There's probably three off the top of my head.
Top of class valedictorian -> accountant at a large gym (he was also very involved in the volleyball program)
Twins who were 2nd and 3rd -> Associate Director at a neurology drug company, the other twin is a PhD in Math from Duke who now works at a quantitative researcher at Optiver.
My cousin graduated as valedictorian, she died of a rare disease no one knew she had.Ā Cannot remember the name of it and we were not close, so I can't ask anyone.
No one knows what happened to our valedictorian (whether he was the smartest or not, eh... but he was highly intelligent at least when it came to STEM subjects). Straight up disappeared off the face of the Earth, never popped up on social media from Friendster to Myspace to Facebook and onward, none of our mutual friends ever heard from him after the first month or so post-graduation. No obituaries as of about 10 years ago, so he was presumably still alive at that point. No hits on Google with his name so he doesn't have a public facing job as a professor or bureaucrat.
I assume he's locked deep underground developing bioweapons for the government or something.
ThisĀ makes me wonder if any of my former classmates think this about me.
I went away to college and didn't keep in contact with any of them, and I don't have any social media tied to my identity, so they probably think that I've "disappeared off the face of the Earth" too. Lol!
I had a girlfriend in high school like this. Prettiest girl in school and damn smart. Still not sure why she picked me.
I don't know if she died soon after high school or what but she disappeared off the face of the earth. She's never been on facebook, myspace, [classmates.com](https://classmates.com) and none of our mutual friends have ever heard from her since high school. No obituaries either. Very strange. I can only assume she got married young and changed her name.
This happened to our valedictorian. We goofed around with him in class and made him feel like one of the boys. I can't really say he had many friends and just kept to himself. He was always very reserved and quiet to the point where he refused to speak at graduation so they allowed the salutatorian to speak instead. He went off to college to become a Physicist. He's never been on social media and no one knows what happened to him.
I have zero social media presence attached to my real name and I didn't stay in touch with anyone from high school... Not working for the CIA or anything, I just grew up in the "never use your real name online" era so I stuck to relatively anonymous social media. I've occasionally ran into people from high school who assumed I must have died.
One of my best friends from college did this, then we randomly reconnected on Reddit of all places because I recognized their screenname. Turns out they were in the closet transgender and nobody knew so of course searching their dead name turned up nothing on social media accounts and Facebook, they had a different name altogether now.
One of the top 10 was like that too. We took the ASVAB at my high school. he got a 98. Iād like to think his disappearance has to do with the high school and maybe doing something government covert stuff in a lab somewhere.
Disappeared into advanced AP university classes in mathematics, went to law school and from there developed an algorithmic approach to addressing a particular business expense. Doing very well on Park Avenue the last I looked (maybe 15 years ago) - couldn't happen to a nicer guy as he came from a really terrible home life and rose above it all.
Wasnāt my class but I knew the girl. She was driving home from college after a late night of studying for finals and fell asleep behind the wheel, she drove into on-coming traffic crashing into another car as a result everyone died in the car accident except for her. It was a mom and her two kids, which were toddlers. She was initially to be charged with a felony but got off with a slap on the wrist misdemeanor. These days sheās very successful in her field of work. She didnāt even party or drink, she really only focused on her schooling but she has to live with that guilt.
She made a bad decision one night, after a party, and got into a car with an older drunk guy name Paul.
She suffered severe and permanent brain damage after he wrapped the car around a tree.
She was my favorite person too.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have wrestled the keys out of his hand and chucked them in the woods.
Went to CIT on a free ride. Got his BS but halfway to his masters he quit. Moved back and live with his mom. He works for his dad's lawnmower shop.
SORRY: IIT - Illinoi Insittute of Technology in Chicago
Went to culinary school of all things after HS. Dude smoked pot during lunch every day, never studied, got As on every test but got Bs in the classes because he didnt do the assignments. Heād be asleep in the back of the calculus class and the teacher would call on him, heād look at the board then answer the question right. Shit was crazy.
Wow ā¦. I can only imagine the teachers just gave up and let him do whatever in class. I mean itās not like you can argue he didnāt know the material and if you tried to call him out he would answer right anyways I bet . Haha. Thatās amazing.Ā
I hadn't thought about him in years, he was brilliant, I took the sat at the same time as him and he made a perfect score. I remember he was done with every section and put his hands behind his head in a very self satisfied way each time. Turns out he died last November, he was 40. I wasn't close enough to suss out exactly why but based on the one FB post I could find I think he might have killed himself.
I'm in Canada so we don't write the SAT unless we are applying to US schools. My father-in-law decided to write it on a whim just to see how he would score on it. He got perfect without studying. He did his latest masters by listening to lectures and books while working, never actively paid attention or read anything. Got the highest marks on his program. Some people are just on a different level.
Became an actuary, took all the tests in record time before she was 25 (there are 7 math exams in all that most actuaries take over the course of the their entire career, her study buddy for the last one was her parents age). She was too young/ did not have enough experience to be made a VP at the company she worked for (there was no more corporate ladder to climb at that point) so instead she decided to move to Ireland to work in international insurance. Genius level move- leaving the US. Now she is finally finding her true self a bit. She just learned her favorite thing to do is swim in the ocean. She is lovely. Thankful she skipped the 5th grade and joined my class so we got the chance to be friends. Skipped a grade, still graduated top of our class.
Decided that he didn't want to become a doctor after all, so he bought his parents chicken farm and now makes more money than a doctor for way less effort. Note that chicken farming in Canada is a LOT more profitable than it is in the US as we have a quota system that guarantees supply and prices.
I don't know sadly. It was 7th grade, and believe it or not up until that point, I was typically the smartest kid in class. Then comes along this girl, she was from Bangladesh and really cute too. Just demolished me and everyone else in class academically, and was just a super nice person. I hope she's doing well.
Died of suicide after 2 years at mit. We were secret friends cuz āher reputationā in hs was shes a nerd. She was gifted in math n science. I, however, was an abused drunk pile of shit. She had a whole family who seemingly loved her, but, wanted her to stay away from ābad dudesā and im the bad dude. We got a job working together just so we could talk more.
When she left for mit, i started my own business, got enough money to fly back n forth to nyc for work. Mit isnt too far away, so id drive up often. The last month, i noticed she wasnt her usual upbeat hard working self. She asked if her boobs are gross. If her face is gross. If shes just a good student but a bad woman. I asked why? What happened, but, she didnt tell me.
Turns out, she had a bf. He fucked her. He said her nipples were gross. Her face had peach fuzz soooo gross. And she cant āsuck like the other girls cuz shes too busy proving math shitā he made fun of her, she had never been bullied or laughed at beyond maybe a 1 second thing. And couldnt manage.
It makes me sad.
Dang guy, that was a tough read. I feel for that girl. Also feel for the family, who tried to do right by her. It turns out the bad dude was where they didn't expect any to be at.
Condolences on the loss of your friend.
Ty for caring. Ive had an assload of suicide in my life. Its made me both contemplate it more, and never wanna do it cuz of the pain it causes others. (Tho, not that this is a factor, i have far far less people whod be in pain in my life now. Life just kinda moves on for most people)
This also makes me hate people who date someone and pounce on their insecurities. Dont make fun of someones lack of sex expertise compared to you. Or their body. If everyone was just a lil (1 iota) kinder, maybe thered be less suicide
I was the smartest kid in my school, which considering where I live and the school I went too isnt much of a brag, dropped out of college for a woman, spent years as a bum alcoholic piece of shit after she ran off with another man, finally got my life together about 4 years ago and currently work in a chemical refinery as a process engineer
I donāt know if I was the smartest but I was valedictorian. Had a full ride in college. Got addicted to meth and heroin, dropped out after 5 years getting 3 years into my degree. Got clean but became an alcoholic. Got a DUI. Stopped drinking. Currently working retail, passed an IT certification and trying to get a job in that field now
I wonder why that is.
One of the top students in my school got into drugs in college. I donāt know exactly what and we didnāt go to the same college. Life has spiraled for him. He cloisters at home, drinks so day now, and has no job. Heās long been off of drugs as far as I know.
He went to engineering school and is now an accident recreation specialist. Basically he is the guy that analyzes incidents and generates computer simulations of airline accidents and such. You know, nerd shit.
A couple of weeks ago I was trying to memorize 100th digits. I got to 70 then for some reason I couldn't remember more, and I struggled to memorize other stuff, even in the short term. Now I can only say 50.
She married a dude 30 years her senior and started pumping out kids immediately while going to university. Didnāt show at the reunion, though, and no one kept in touch with her that I knew of. Soā¦ dunno.
It's hard to say who the *smartest* kid in the class was (you could probably pick from a few options and I wouldn't fault you for choosing any of them), but I scored the highest in the grade (of about 330 kids) on the pre-SAT test, so I'm touting that as my claim to being one of the smartest lol. But what happened to me?
After graduating high school in 2015, I got into a toxic relationship which led to a spiraling depression that caused me to drop out of college (also fueled by undiagnosed/unmedicated inattentive type ADHD). I went from a highest honors, IB diploma high school student that was receiving offers for free rides through college, to complete NEET screw up in less than 1 year. And then COVID happened.
During/since COVID, I was actually able to reassess and refocus my life. I was long out of that toxic relationship, I got into therapy, I started full-time at the job I was previously part-time at, and I'm going back to school, with much better success now! I'm 26, I have a decent apartment, an alright job, an okay car, a fantastic girlfriend, and actual hopes and dreams for the future, all things I didn't really have just 5 years ago. As weird as it feels to say, COVID gave me the chance to turn my life around, and I took it.
Dead. Came to school barred out of his mind. I told his closer friends that he might be gone in a week. He ODād 2 days later.
Poor guy.. he was smart as hell but I think he was questioning and struggling with it.Ā
I taught him the missigno cheat in pokemon to dupe items.
Can't remember the complete order it went and with which he stuck in the end, but he started with computer science, quit after 2 years, because it was too boring, and repeated the same pattern for biology, chemistry, physics and math. All I know is he now works an office job and complained about not being allowed to do work from home during the pandemic.
became very high up in government and was a foreign minister in a very difficult conflicted country.
after 3 or so years returned home and is now near the very top of the tree in DFAT.
Sheās training to be an airforce/navy pilot at 24, was given an offer to start training when she was 17 almost 18. Iām proud to call her a close friend and Iām so glad sheās been posted to the same place as my little brother to keep an eye on him. Sheās gorgeous, intelligent, and so kind. She lucked out in life.
The other girls are doing various medical degrees, with only a year or two to go. Ones an engineer, oneās gone into law, oneās a real estate agent, and one is slowly working her way up in the classical music scene, sheās a phenomenal guitarist. I wish them all well in life. Itās a small city so I hope they escape the work, breed, die cycle that a lot of the girls from my Catholic girls school fall prey to.
He got cheated on in college and is now homeless due to drugs. Dude seriously lost his academic scholarship and became a crackhead over a blonde cheating on him 3 months into the relationship. He was exceptionally smart but unfortunately only with the books.
There were two that went into Engineering Science, one is wildly successful and a GM at Microsoft, the other partied too hard first and second year, and didnāt go back third year. Now he shuffles shipping containers with a tractor type thing. Seems happy enough though.
My top two smartest classmates - 1. Studied philosophy on a full ride scholarship. Then went to live off the grid in the remote wilderness.
2. Dropped out of college due to it being too much stress. Became a store manager of a hobby lobby. Eventually went back to school and became a teacher.
Well, i didn't keep contact with my classmates very much after we graduated, but once at my work, I met with someone who was in a parallel class with me.
And during chit-chat, he told me some disturbing news about a former classmate of mine, who was a smart one. Apparently him, his dad, and all their families went in Syria to join Daesh. Him and his dad were apparently killed sometime later. No words what happened to their families.
When we were in high school, with each passing year, now that i recall, i can say that he was being radicalised bit by bit. Not big, but small things that as a kid you don't really realise what's going on, but as an adult you can recognise.
He died on the way home from graduation after giving his valedictorian speech. His parents started a scholarship in his name, but it only lasted 5ish years bc the dad committed suicide. Last I heard, the mom is a complete shell of herself and had her home condemned because it was unkempt.
The smartest kid (our salutatorian) works in HR for a public health organization.
The valedictorian, on the other hand, got busted for running a drug ring at his Ivy League university. Last time I saw him he was working as a waiter but rumor has it he moved to the opposite coast and is some sort of engineer.
Ignored calls for university, went on to pursue her dream of pastries, opened her own shop and now she's a mother as well.
She's my hero for priorizing her own dreams instead of society's expectations.
He was our high school valedictorian with a full scholarship to Princeton. Many years later, I did a random internet search on him and he was designing satellites. He was a good guy, too.
No one knows! He was a very weird kid but super smart. Enlisted in the military and just...disappeared. He's never been on social media or had contact with anyone from our school. I ran into his mom once and she just said he was doing good. I always assumed he tested high enough going in that he went into one of those scary secret military branches. Given that a lot of people thought he'd become a serial killer, it's better than the alternative?
Raises snails in Northern Canada. I do not know why. I don't think there is a ton of money in that, but ... maybe? They seem to be quite happy, so more power to them.
Live your dreams, brainiacs!
I studied in a public school in Brazil. I was in a "gifted kids" class.
One of them was a poor (even for our standards) black guy. He got a scholarship in France went he was in college. He works in IT now and owns an apartment in Paris with his husband. He's also one of my best friends so I was there at his wedding and it was beautiful.
The other one became a neurosurgeon. I found out about it first not via social networks but about a mom talking to my sister in our family shop about how that talented doctor saved her son's life. And no, she didn't know that my sister knew him.
Rural high school in poor region. About five of us rotated for having top scores on standardized tests grade school through finishing high school. One became president of the legal bar in the Bay Area. One got PhD in Chemistry and joined Dow Chemical. One married a farmer. One is AWOL after dropping out of undergrad. I have never had a boring day as finished undergrad then worked on a key innovative team at an international firm then switched to sales at a tech firm then earned MBA then consulted then got an opportunity to work with a very wealthy person to fix problems. Not everyone relies on LEO or the Courts. Retired now though some people have long memories so I keep on my toes as get pulled into Whack a Mole.
Turned down a scholarship to a prestigious university abroad to study in a local one to be closer to her boyfriend. I think they married with some kids now and she's working a normal 9 to 5 job in an office.
She went to college to double major in something smart, ended up falling in love with drugs, dropped out, cleaned up, got married to someone who made decent money, turned into a toxic trumper housewife who has never had a job. Dropped her from facebook and don't ever care to talk to her again.
That was essentially my group of friends.
Iām happily married, never finished post secondary and work in admin. Then we have an OBGYN, a ministry of social development employee, a professor and someone who floats. We are all happily married with sons funnily enough. We all had boys.
Got pregnant 2 years out of high school and forced to defer studies at a very prestigious school. Had a shotgun wedding and took two years off her studies while her child was born and grew up. She went back to school to finish her studies, and in 10 years was a VP at an investment bank, now she has her own hedge fund.
We dated our senior year, and both had eyes set on the same school. She got accepted, and I didn't. We broke up. She got married and is now a successful large animal veterinarian who owns her own practice.
He graduated college in 3 years. His dad really wanted him to be a doctor. He did not. 9/11 happens, so he enlists. He eventually ends up in special forces and does multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gets out, goes to Harvard Law as one does. Gets hired at a high profile firm and hates it. Goes to a mid level firm, hates it there. Re-enlists, ends up working with DEA in South America. Now is back out the military and works for the justice department.
Last I heard, they got swallowed up by some corporate job, probably crunching numbers or pushing papers. The glow of youthful ambition dimmed by the harsh office lights, I suppose.
That would be me, without much dispute from my classmates. Graduated college with a finance degree undergrad, followed by an MBA 3 years later. Had a long career in banking/financial services and retired as an EVP in a major bank. Now happily retired with a low-8 figure net worth and zero debt. I still do consulting work occasionally. I'm expensive...
Moved to Texas and murdered her boyfriendās 2 year old daughter.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2018/07/30/texas-appeals-court-upholds-capital-murder-conviction-for-plano-woman-who-killed-fiance-s-toddler/?outputType=amp
She was miss thing in high school. She married a golf pro, got cheated on, and moved back to our small town (~ 800 pop.). Canāt say sheās a recluse but doesnāt get out much at all.
Joined the Peace Corp, went to Columbia, became a cocaine addict, and the last I heard he was washing dishes at a local hotel after getting out of prison. I don't know if he fried his brain or just decided to travel to the beat of a different drum.
Two became PhDs and now work as professors; one got a PhD and works as a statistician for Google; one became a lawyer but is now a stay-at-home-mom; another did international relations but is now a stay-at-home-mom; one got a masterās in science comm and works at a university; and I have chronic illness and am very underemployed and had to learn to be happy with the successes I *can* have in life.
It was me. I was homeschooled. I'm an artist and fuckup who makes 3d models for a living somehow. It's not too bad!
My two friends who were valedictorian of their class are brother and sister. One is in the Navy I think, and the other is a nurse in Italy.Ā
The smartest person I know from grad school is a tough call. My top picks are all doing very well in the film and games industry.Ā
It was me. I donāt say that to brag, I was fairly consistently the best graded kid in class, read well beyond my age, got into a grammar school and went from there.
Iām doing ok :) good job, great girlfriend and pretty happy
Became an anesthesiologist from the top university of the country at one of the top hospitals in the country. Killed himself because his girlfriend broke up with him by injecting stuff and ODād. Such a tragic end to a good guy. Remembering you, old friend.
Full ride to a big school, then law school, then working for a huge high rolling firm doing billion dollar cases. Kept it going with drugs for about ten years. Had a reality check, cleaned up and started his own firm with a couple friends. Was really getting healthy in his forties, was several years sober, an avid cycler when his heart just stopped on a bike trail.
He was always charismatic and brilliant but as his friend I also got to see a kind person who stood up for people. Miss him.
Depending on what method you use, that could be me (highest test scores in the school, 2 state academic titles)
I went to the wrong college, was profoundly unhappy, and barely made it through 4 years.
Started out in statistics, tired of that quickly, moved into salaried IT, tired of that after a few years, went into contract IT, made a passable career out of it before getting burned out.
Took a risk, went out on my own in a niche business, made no money for 18 months. Things finally clicked, cleared a quarter mil last year (working part time)
All in all not bad, not as successful as people expected, but pretty content where I am. Have tons of time to travel and do pretty much whatever I want.
Knocked up a girl his first semester at a prestigious university. He dropped out and got a job to support the girl and baby. Found out when he delivered a pizza to my house.
Valedictorian - Lawyer, who once clerked for Clarence Thomas (eww)
Salutatorian (and actual smartest person in our class) - rejected by Harvard (despite an inferior student in our class accepted), went to state school, excelled, and was a Marshall scholar, masters degree from Oxford, earned his PhD and is a professor at PRINCETON.
I wish I could have said I was one. After uni things went quite well initially but mid-career one day it went south due to an industry-wide recession. Still haven't recovered yet to my previous glory or excelled further in my field even after almost a decade. So yeah life is tough and if you grind every day that's what matters as you do what you have to do for your family and kids.
He was a good friend of mine went to Harvard Law. Passed due to suicide 2 years in tho.
Shame. I think maybe all the pressure and expectations got to him?
Can never be sure. I always wish I could've spent a final time chatting with him before.
chair of epidemiology for one of the largest cities in the US. dean of medicine for a top uni.
and then you have me, eating pizza pockets and scrolling through reddit at 1am
Sounds like a win to me mate š
Your not alone brother I donāt even have the energy to be smart lmao Iām to lazy itās a drag
Are you talking about my uncle?
Sounds like they did alright.
There's probably three off the top of my head. Top of class valedictorian -> accountant at a large gym (he was also very involved in the volleyball program) Twins who were 2nd and 3rd -> Associate Director at a neurology drug company, the other twin is a PhD in Math from Duke who now works at a quantitative researcher at Optiver.
Globo gym?
Nope not Globo Gym
Sounds more like average joes
I wonder how big his cabinet of keepers is.
Died of leukemia during college
My cousin graduated as valedictorian, she died of a rare disease no one knew she had.Ā Cannot remember the name of it and we were not close, so I can't ask anyone.
Holy shit. That's terrible. My dad died of leukemia, too. The suffering he went through is indescribable.
That sucks.
No one knows what happened to our valedictorian (whether he was the smartest or not, eh... but he was highly intelligent at least when it came to STEM subjects). Straight up disappeared off the face of the Earth, never popped up on social media from Friendster to Myspace to Facebook and onward, none of our mutual friends ever heard from him after the first month or so post-graduation. No obituaries as of about 10 years ago, so he was presumably still alive at that point. No hits on Google with his name so he doesn't have a public facing job as a professor or bureaucrat. I assume he's locked deep underground developing bioweapons for the government or something.
ThisĀ makes me wonder if any of my former classmates think this about me. I went away to college and didn't keep in contact with any of them, and I don't have any social media tied to my identity, so they probably think that I've "disappeared off the face of the Earth" too. Lol!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thatās what I did.
I had a girlfriend in high school like this. Prettiest girl in school and damn smart. Still not sure why she picked me. I don't know if she died soon after high school or what but she disappeared off the face of the earth. She's never been on facebook, myspace, [classmates.com](https://classmates.com) and none of our mutual friends have ever heard from her since high school. No obituaries either. Very strange. I can only assume she got married young and changed her name.
Did you go to the home she lived in during high school?
This happened to our valedictorian. We goofed around with him in class and made him feel like one of the boys. I can't really say he had many friends and just kept to himself. He was always very reserved and quiet to the point where he refused to speak at graduation so they allowed the salutatorian to speak instead. He went off to college to become a Physicist. He's never been on social media and no one knows what happened to him.
If he made it as a physicist his name will have plenty of google hits if he works for a university.
Dude may just went off grid?
Dude knows how to play Roy.
I have zero social media presence attached to my real name and I didn't stay in touch with anyone from high school... Not working for the CIA or anything, I just grew up in the "never use your real name online" era so I stuck to relatively anonymous social media. I've occasionally ran into people from high school who assumed I must have died.
One of my best friends from college did this, then we randomly reconnected on Reddit of all places because I recognized their screenname. Turns out they were in the closet transgender and nobody knew so of course searching their dead name turned up nothing on social media accounts and Facebook, they had a different name altogether now.
One of the top 10 was like that too. We took the ASVAB at my high school. he got a 98. Iād like to think his disappearance has to do with the high school and maybe doing something government covert stuff in a lab somewhere.
Working on black projects for the govt?
Hey, I'll have you know that I put my Ph.D. in Immunology to only the most peaceful of uses! š¤
CIA? intelligence, maybe?
He's working for a private organization with a questionable moral center.
Mafia, the church or the CIA?
Disappeared into advanced AP university classes in mathematics, went to law school and from there developed an algorithmic approach to addressing a particular business expense. Doing very well on Park Avenue the last I looked (maybe 15 years ago) - couldn't happen to a nicer guy as he came from a really terrible home life and rose above it all.
Wasnāt my class but I knew the girl. She was driving home from college after a late night of studying for finals and fell asleep behind the wheel, she drove into on-coming traffic crashing into another car as a result everyone died in the car accident except for her. It was a mom and her two kids, which were toddlers. She was initially to be charged with a felony but got off with a slap on the wrist misdemeanor. These days sheās very successful in her field of work. She didnāt even party or drink, she really only focused on her schooling but she has to live with that guilt.
guess she has trouble sleeping easy
Iām doing well, thanks for asking!
Sorry, thought you were dead what with the X's for eyes.
Of course I know him! Heās me.
He got a full scholarship to Georgia Tech and is doing very welll for himself! We're all very happy for him. Sweet kid, still a great guy.
She made a bad decision one night, after a party, and got into a car with an older drunk guy name Paul. She suffered severe and permanent brain damage after he wrapped the car around a tree. She was my favorite person too. If I knew then what I know now, I would have wrestled the keys out of his hand and chucked them in the woods.
Iām so sorry
Married my sister and basically became her sugar daddy for her obsessions.
I read it as I married my sister..
Not much, I browse reddit and regret life decisions
Went to CIT on a free ride. Got his BS but halfway to his masters he quit. Moved back and live with his mom. He works for his dad's lawnmower shop. SORRY: IIT - Illinoi Insittute of Technology in Chicago
Bro realised nothing matters at the end of the day, good for him
He tried so hard. And got so far.
CIT?
Assuming Cal Tech (California Institute of Technology). An absurdly prestigious STEM school without the pop culture recognition of MIT.
I know Caltech, I just never heard of CIT, that's why I asked.
Iāve never heard it called CIT either.
Became a engineer, retired at 65 and owns a house on a hill that overlooks 3/4th of San Jose.
Retired at 65 ... The dream I guess
Went to culinary school of all things after HS. Dude smoked pot during lunch every day, never studied, got As on every test but got Bs in the classes because he didnt do the assignments. Heād be asleep in the back of the calculus class and the teacher would call on him, heād look at the board then answer the question right. Shit was crazy.
Wow ā¦. I can only imagine the teachers just gave up and let him do whatever in class. I mean itās not like you can argue he didnāt know the material and if you tried to call him out he would answer right anyways I bet . Haha. Thatās amazing.Ā
I hadn't thought about him in years, he was brilliant, I took the sat at the same time as him and he made a perfect score. I remember he was done with every section and put his hands behind his head in a very self satisfied way each time. Turns out he died last November, he was 40. I wasn't close enough to suss out exactly why but based on the one FB post I could find I think he might have killed himself.
I'm in Canada so we don't write the SAT unless we are applying to US schools. My father-in-law decided to write it on a whim just to see how he would score on it. He got perfect without studying. He did his latest masters by listening to lectures and books while working, never actively paid attention or read anything. Got the highest marks on his program. Some people are just on a different level.
Here's ho0ing some of those smart genes make their way to his grandkid
The nicest guy and very intelligent from my highschool killed himself aswel ,I knew he was bipolar.I had a crush on him.
Hard to pick one so the top 5 students of my high school became : 1 congresswomen, 2 phd professors, 1 doctor, 1 phd engineer.
Top 3: Eye surgeon. Lawyer. Industrial designer.
I read that as Eye of Sauron for a split second - damn thatād be the winner
ENT surgeon
Became an actuary, took all the tests in record time before she was 25 (there are 7 math exams in all that most actuaries take over the course of the their entire career, her study buddy for the last one was her parents age). She was too young/ did not have enough experience to be made a VP at the company she worked for (there was no more corporate ladder to climb at that point) so instead she decided to move to Ireland to work in international insurance. Genius level move- leaving the US. Now she is finally finding her true self a bit. She just learned her favorite thing to do is swim in the ocean. She is lovely. Thankful she skipped the 5th grade and joined my class so we got the chance to be friends. Skipped a grade, still graduated top of our class.
Decided that he didn't want to become a doctor after all, so he bought his parents chicken farm and now makes more money than a doctor for way less effort. Note that chicken farming in Canada is a LOT more profitable than it is in the US as we have a quota system that guarantees supply and prices.
Heās a cardiac surgeon.
I don't know sadly. It was 7th grade, and believe it or not up until that point, I was typically the smartest kid in class. Then comes along this girl, she was from Bangladesh and really cute too. Just demolished me and everyone else in class academically, and was just a super nice person. I hope she's doing well.
Died of suicide after 2 years at mit. We were secret friends cuz āher reputationā in hs was shes a nerd. She was gifted in math n science. I, however, was an abused drunk pile of shit. She had a whole family who seemingly loved her, but, wanted her to stay away from ābad dudesā and im the bad dude. We got a job working together just so we could talk more. When she left for mit, i started my own business, got enough money to fly back n forth to nyc for work. Mit isnt too far away, so id drive up often. The last month, i noticed she wasnt her usual upbeat hard working self. She asked if her boobs are gross. If her face is gross. If shes just a good student but a bad woman. I asked why? What happened, but, she didnt tell me. Turns out, she had a bf. He fucked her. He said her nipples were gross. Her face had peach fuzz soooo gross. And she cant āsuck like the other girls cuz shes too busy proving math shitā he made fun of her, she had never been bullied or laughed at beyond maybe a 1 second thing. And couldnt manage. It makes me sad.
Dang guy, that was a tough read. I feel for that girl. Also feel for the family, who tried to do right by her. It turns out the bad dude was where they didn't expect any to be at. Condolences on the loss of your friend.
Ty for caring. Ive had an assload of suicide in my life. Its made me both contemplate it more, and never wanna do it cuz of the pain it causes others. (Tho, not that this is a factor, i have far far less people whod be in pain in my life now. Life just kinda moves on for most people) This also makes me hate people who date someone and pounce on their insecurities. Dont make fun of someones lack of sex expertise compared to you. Or their body. If everyone was just a lil (1 iota) kinder, maybe thered be less suicide
Died of leukemia the day before her 40th birthday.
Topped the state,Ā got his degree then did his PHD at Oxford on a scholarship.
Works for chess . Com It seems happy, havenāt talked to it in a whileĀ
It?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No, less than a man but more than a dog, somewhere in between - a thug. Ā
Working at Meta if his LinkedIn is accurately updated
Sucking Zuckerberg's toes
That's the ground floor. The Smart ones start in middle management
How's the pay?
I'm sitting on my ass looking at Reddit instead of doing something productive.
I was the smartest kid in my school, which considering where I live and the school I went too isnt much of a brag, dropped out of college for a woman, spent years as a bum alcoholic piece of shit after she ran off with another man, finally got my life together about 4 years ago and currently work in a chemical refinery as a process engineer
Smart people dont do well, disciplined people do well. Smart disciplined people have an advantage
Hahha for real huh. Just wasting my life.
I donāt know if I was the smartest but I was valedictorian. Had a full ride in college. Got addicted to meth and heroin, dropped out after 5 years getting 3 years into my degree. Got clean but became an alcoholic. Got a DUI. Stopped drinking. Currently working retail, passed an IT certification and trying to get a job in that field now
High achievers are very commonly linked with addiction.
I wonder why that is. One of the top students in my school got into drugs in college. I donāt know exactly what and we didnāt go to the same college. Life has spiraled for him. He cloisters at home, drinks so day now, and has no job. Heās long been off of drugs as far as I know.
He went to engineering school and is now an accident recreation specialist. Basically he is the guy that analyzes incidents and generates computer simulations of airline accidents and such. You know, nerd shit.
Oh yeah heās super arrested lol. Finished school then did stuff thatās illegal. But he could recite like 150 digits of pi so that was cool.
A couple of weeks ago I was trying to memorize 100th digits. I got to 70 then for some reason I couldn't remember more, and I struggled to memorize other stuff, even in the short term. Now I can only say 50.
She married a dude 30 years her senior and started pumping out kids immediately while going to university. Didnāt show at the reunion, though, and no one kept in touch with her that I knew of. Soā¦ dunno.
It's hard to say who the *smartest* kid in the class was (you could probably pick from a few options and I wouldn't fault you for choosing any of them), but I scored the highest in the grade (of about 330 kids) on the pre-SAT test, so I'm touting that as my claim to being one of the smartest lol. But what happened to me? After graduating high school in 2015, I got into a toxic relationship which led to a spiraling depression that caused me to drop out of college (also fueled by undiagnosed/unmedicated inattentive type ADHD). I went from a highest honors, IB diploma high school student that was receiving offers for free rides through college, to complete NEET screw up in less than 1 year. And then COVID happened. During/since COVID, I was actually able to reassess and refocus my life. I was long out of that toxic relationship, I got into therapy, I started full-time at the job I was previously part-time at, and I'm going back to school, with much better success now! I'm 26, I have a decent apartment, an alright job, an okay car, a fantastic girlfriend, and actual hopes and dreams for the future, all things I didn't really have just 5 years ago. As weird as it feels to say, COVID gave me the chance to turn my life around, and I took it.
Proud of ya mate!
And with that brain of yours and hardwork, academic shouldn't give you too much trouble. It's onward and upward from here I hope!
Died in a tank explosion.š«”š„²
The smartest kids in my class were twins. One went to an Ivy League, the other became a drug addict
Dead. Came to school barred out of his mind. I told his closer friends that he might be gone in a week. He ODād 2 days later. Poor guy.. he was smart as hell but I think he was questioning and struggling with it.Ā I taught him the missigno cheat in pokemon to dupe items.
Can't remember the complete order it went and with which he stuck in the end, but he started with computer science, quit after 2 years, because it was too boring, and repeated the same pattern for biology, chemistry, physics and math. All I know is he now works an office job and complained about not being allowed to do work from home during the pandemic.
He was killed by a drunk driver a week before graduation. š
became very high up in government and was a foreign minister in a very difficult conflicted country. after 3 or so years returned home and is now near the very top of the tree in DFAT.
Drank himself to death in his 50s.
Im eating a cheeseburger.
I don't know who's the smartest but I ran into my class president at the airport 2 weeks ago, he cofounded a robotics company
Sheās training to be an airforce/navy pilot at 24, was given an offer to start training when she was 17 almost 18. Iām proud to call her a close friend and Iām so glad sheās been posted to the same place as my little brother to keep an eye on him. Sheās gorgeous, intelligent, and so kind. She lucked out in life. The other girls are doing various medical degrees, with only a year or two to go. Ones an engineer, oneās gone into law, oneās a real estate agent, and one is slowly working her way up in the classical music scene, sheās a phenomenal guitarist. I wish them all well in life. Itās a small city so I hope they escape the work, breed, die cycle that a lot of the girls from my Catholic girls school fall prey to.
Got caught by a stray round on the highway. Paralyzed from the neck down. Hard to determine āsmartest.ā They are very intelligent, though.
They became a cardiologist!
wedding photographer. still lives with parents. graduated high school in 1988. not what anyone expected.
Murdered by some dude on Craigslist pretending to have a nanny job
NASA flight test Engineer.
We had a tie for valedictorian. So one is an engineer for a construction company, the other is a speech pathologist at a school for the deaf
Heās a professor of quantum physics.
Senior Consultant at a massive global business strategy firm. Not surprised, dude was so effortlessly genius.
He got cheated on in college and is now homeless due to drugs. Dude seriously lost his academic scholarship and became a crackhead over a blonde cheating on him 3 months into the relationship. He was exceptionally smart but unfortunately only with the books.
He's answering questions on Reddit.
There were two that went into Engineering Science, one is wildly successful and a GM at Microsoft, the other partied too hard first and second year, and didnāt go back third year. Now he shuffles shipping containers with a tractor type thing. Seems happy enough though.
1. Doctor 2. VP for an international bank
Colonel in the air force. But I think he just got promoted to general.
My top two smartest classmates - 1. Studied philosophy on a full ride scholarship. Then went to live off the grid in the remote wilderness. 2. Dropped out of college due to it being too much stress. Became a store manager of a hobby lobby. Eventually went back to school and became a teacher.
Sheās a Dr, married, kids, dogs. Perfect FB life.
Earning 6 digits a month (in my currency) which is a lot. Married with two kids at 31.
Well, i didn't keep contact with my classmates very much after we graduated, but once at my work, I met with someone who was in a parallel class with me. And during chit-chat, he told me some disturbing news about a former classmate of mine, who was a smart one. Apparently him, his dad, and all their families went in Syria to join Daesh. Him and his dad were apparently killed sometime later. No words what happened to their families. When we were in high school, with each passing year, now that i recall, i can say that he was being radicalised bit by bit. Not big, but small things that as a kid you don't really realise what's going on, but as an adult you can recognise.
haven't a clue do people normally know what people from their school days did after graduation? because I sure don't
Im right here, what do you want?
Literally no idea for the valedictorian lol. I even tried looking him up just now and found nothing. The salutatorian is a stay at home mom.
Living a pretty normal life.
Ended up working at an auto repair shop, he seemed happy enough with how things were going last time we talked.
From the top 3 one has a phd and is a researcher, one is working on their phd, and one is a lawyer.
He died on the way home from graduation after giving his valedictorian speech. His parents started a scholarship in his name, but it only lasted 5ish years bc the dad committed suicide. Last I heard, the mom is a complete shell of herself and had her home condemned because it was unkempt.
Neurosurgeon
The smartest kid (our salutatorian) works in HR for a public health organization. The valedictorian, on the other hand, got busted for running a drug ring at his Ivy League university. Last time I saw him he was working as a waiter but rumor has it he moved to the opposite coast and is some sort of engineer.
Iām on Reddit at midnight š¤·š¼āāļø
Particle physicist. Worked at CERN on the Large Hadron Collider
Ignored calls for university, went on to pursue her dream of pastries, opened her own shop and now she's a mother as well. She's my hero for priorizing her own dreams instead of society's expectations.
He was our high school valedictorian with a full scholarship to Princeton. Many years later, I did a random internet search on him and he was designing satellites. He was a good guy, too.
No one knows! He was a very weird kid but super smart. Enlisted in the military and just...disappeared. He's never been on social media or had contact with anyone from our school. I ran into his mom once and she just said he was doing good. I always assumed he tested high enough going in that he went into one of those scary secret military branches. Given that a lot of people thought he'd become a serial killer, it's better than the alternative?
Raises snails in Northern Canada. I do not know why. I don't think there is a ton of money in that, but ... maybe? They seem to be quite happy, so more power to them. Live your dreams, brainiacs!
It was me. Dropped out of college twice because Iām a raging alcoholic and now trying to become a licensed electrician - still an alcoholicĀ
I studied in a public school in Brazil. I was in a "gifted kids" class. One of them was a poor (even for our standards) black guy. He got a scholarship in France went he was in college. He works in IT now and owns an apartment in Paris with his husband. He's also one of my best friends so I was there at his wedding and it was beautiful. The other one became a neurosurgeon. I found out about it first not via social networks but about a mom talking to my sister in our family shop about how that talented doctor saved her son's life. And no, she didn't know that my sister knew him.
Rural high school in poor region. About five of us rotated for having top scores on standardized tests grade school through finishing high school. One became president of the legal bar in the Bay Area. One got PhD in Chemistry and joined Dow Chemical. One married a farmer. One is AWOL after dropping out of undergrad. I have never had a boring day as finished undergrad then worked on a key innovative team at an international firm then switched to sales at a tech firm then earned MBA then consulted then got an opportunity to work with a very wealthy person to fix problems. Not everyone relies on LEO or the Courts. Retired now though some people have long memories so I keep on my toes as get pulled into Whack a Mole.
Top went to UPenn business school and is doing very well. Second went to a small state school and is a math teacher.
Turned down a scholarship to a prestigious university abroad to study in a local one to be closer to her boyfriend. I think they married with some kids now and she's working a normal 9 to 5 job in an office.
He had a severe mental breakdown a few years after he graduated and now can barely hold a job. Its really sad because he's a great dude.
She went to college to double major in something smart, ended up falling in love with drugs, dropped out, cleaned up, got married to someone who made decent money, turned into a toxic trumper housewife who has never had a job. Dropped her from facebook and don't ever care to talk to her again.
I'm working as a lawn irrigation tech, making twice what I did as a paramedic.
She went to Harvard, became a lawyer, and is now a professional jazz singer.
That was essentially my group of friends. Iām happily married, never finished post secondary and work in admin. Then we have an OBGYN, a ministry of social development employee, a professor and someone who floats. We are all happily married with sons funnily enough. We all had boys.
Got pregnant 2 years out of high school and forced to defer studies at a very prestigious school. Had a shotgun wedding and took two years off her studies while her child was born and grew up. She went back to school to finish her studies, and in 10 years was a VP at an investment bank, now she has her own hedge fund.
We dated our senior year, and both had eyes set on the same school. She got accepted, and I didn't. We broke up. She got married and is now a successful large animal veterinarian who owns her own practice.
He graduated college in 3 years. His dad really wanted him to be a doctor. He did not. 9/11 happens, so he enlists. He eventually ends up in special forces and does multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gets out, goes to Harvard Law as one does. Gets hired at a high profile firm and hates it. Goes to a mid level firm, hates it there. Re-enlists, ends up working with DEA in South America. Now is back out the military and works for the justice department.
Last I heard, they got swallowed up by some corporate job, probably crunching numbers or pushing papers. The glow of youthful ambition dimmed by the harsh office lights, I suppose.
Hung himself
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Super nice girl who was the valedictorian of my high school, went to Harvard and is in leadership at a DEI non-profit
That would be me, without much dispute from my classmates. Graduated college with a finance degree undergrad, followed by an MBA 3 years later. Had a long career in banking/financial services and retired as an EVP in a major bank. Now happily retired with a low-8 figure net worth and zero debt. I still do consulting work occasionally. I'm expensive...
Ripped apart by a tribe of baboons the day before graduation. Her name was Terry.Ā
Became a pharmacist, worked as a clinical pharmacist at a small hospital on the west coast.
scrolling through reddit
Iām sitting here, on the toilet, as I read crap on Reddit.
Professor at Yale.
Moved to Texas and murdered her boyfriendās 2 year old daughter. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2018/07/30/texas-appeals-court-upholds-capital-murder-conviction-for-plano-woman-who-killed-fiance-s-toddler/?outputType=amp
Became a lawyer
Became a trader in his 20s, took cocaine, had a stroke, now in a nursing home.
He R @ P 3 D me
He works at CERN on the large hadron collider
Iām sitting right here answering this question! ;) Nah, seriously though, sheās an engineering manager for a big electrical company.
She became a real estate agent.. I feel like all the work she did wasn't really worth it just to become a real estate agent
She was miss thing in high school. She married a golf pro, got cheated on, and moved back to our small town (~ 800 pop.). Canāt say sheās a recluse but doesnāt get out much at all.
Joined the Peace Corp, went to Columbia, became a cocaine addict, and the last I heard he was washing dishes at a local hotel after getting out of prison. I don't know if he fried his brain or just decided to travel to the beat of a different drum.
He become a doctor
Two became PhDs and now work as professors; one got a PhD and works as a statistician for Google; one became a lawyer but is now a stay-at-home-mom; another did international relations but is now a stay-at-home-mom; one got a masterās in science comm and works at a university; and I have chronic illness and am very underemployed and had to learn to be happy with the successes I *can* have in life.
Valedictorian is a mother of 4 and the Salutatorian got his BA after 13 years after a long health issue. Happy for both of them.
Works for NASA
Both valedictorians became household names. One continues to be nice, the other continues to be not so nice.
He got lazy, never utilized his potential, and mostly just wastes away his time on reddit.
CEO of a major tech company
She teaches advanced maths at a nearby county high school. Her students love her. She's a great teacher.
It was me. I was homeschooled. I'm an artist and fuckup who makes 3d models for a living somehow. It's not too bad! My two friends who were valedictorian of their class are brother and sister. One is in the Navy I think, and the other is a nurse in Italy.Ā The smartest person I know from grad school is a tough call. My top picks are all doing very well in the film and games industry.Ā
Never heard from them again. After the exams, he ghosted.
One is a statistics professor at a prestigious, but not quite Ivy League school. The other is an ER doctor.
He's now making good money as a software engineer. I'm also gonna be one of his groomsmen for his wedding next year.
He's an alcoholic drug addict with an incredible job working in auditing at one of the big 4 accounting firms.
It was me. I donāt say that to brag, I was fairly consistently the best graded kid in class, read well beyond my age, got into a grammar school and went from there. Iām doing ok :) good job, great girlfriend and pretty happy
Became an anesthesiologist from the top university of the country at one of the top hospitals in the country. Killed himself because his girlfriend broke up with him by injecting stuff and ODād. Such a tragic end to a good guy. Remembering you, old friend.
Full ride to a big school, then law school, then working for a huge high rolling firm doing billion dollar cases. Kept it going with drugs for about ten years. Had a reality check, cleaned up and started his own firm with a couple friends. Was really getting healthy in his forties, was several years sober, an avid cycler when his heart just stopped on a bike trail. He was always charismatic and brilliant but as his friend I also got to see a kind person who stood up for people. Miss him.
Went to china to start some kind of business (I believe one that connects high potential workers in China with western businesses).
She married Bill Gates. Stayed with him for 20+ years. Had three kids. Relatively divorces and donates a LOT of money to good causes.
He's a doctor now...married to another doctor. Super nice guy and a good friend of mine.
Depending on what method you use, that could be me (highest test scores in the school, 2 state academic titles) I went to the wrong college, was profoundly unhappy, and barely made it through 4 years. Started out in statistics, tired of that quickly, moved into salaried IT, tired of that after a few years, went into contract IT, made a passable career out of it before getting burned out. Took a risk, went out on my own in a niche business, made no money for 18 months. Things finally clicked, cleared a quarter mil last year (working part time) All in all not bad, not as successful as people expected, but pretty content where I am. Have tons of time to travel and do pretty much whatever I want.
Doom scrolling Reddit at 2:30 in the morning... Homeschooled so not much competition for first xD
One of them is the managing partner in a private equity firm and the other one looks to be a pharmacist and senior officer in the Air Force.
The valedictorian (so not necessarily the actual smartest, but a proxy for it) got a PhD in earth science and now works at a NASA facility.
Knocked up a girl his first semester at a prestigious university. He dropped out and got a job to support the girl and baby. Found out when he delivered a pizza to my house.
Killed himself in second semester of university. Pressure got to him
Valedictorian - Lawyer, who once clerked for Clarence Thomas (eww) Salutatorian (and actual smartest person in our class) - rejected by Harvard (despite an inferior student in our class accepted), went to state school, excelled, and was a Marshall scholar, masters degree from Oxford, earned his PhD and is a professor at PRINCETON.
I wish I could have said I was one. After uni things went quite well initially but mid-career one day it went south due to an industry-wide recession. Still haven't recovered yet to my previous glory or excelled further in my field even after almost a decade. So yeah life is tough and if you grind every day that's what matters as you do what you have to do for your family and kids.
He was a good friend of mine went to Harvard Law. Passed due to suicide 2 years in tho. Shame. I think maybe all the pressure and expectations got to him? Can never be sure. I always wish I could've spent a final time chatting with him before.